China’s Railway will increase the speed of its trains to the level of 160 or 200 kilometers per hour on most of the rail lines starting October 1, 2006. It will become the sixth nationwide railway speed acceleration in nine years to boost transport capacity, a senior railway expert said yesterday.

According to the local papers yesterday, the renovation of the railroad between Shenyang and Harbin has been completed and put into operation ahead of schedule. After the speed increase, the journey from Shenyang to Harbin by train will be reduced to only three and half hours, which is two hours less than the current service.

The train speed increase between Shenyang and Harbin will help promote the economic cooperation with provinces including Heilongjiang and Jilin and drive the economic growth of Liaoning province, a provincial official said.